Herin
by SpeakerofNaught
Summary: Her dreams tell the fragmented story of a tragic romance. Now, her quiet life is forever interrupted by that very same tragedy. NaruHina. Original story concept. Rated M for language.
1. Forever, But Not Never

Hey guys, it's me, SpeakerofNaught. If you don't recognized the name, I've written 'Reflections of the Past, Illusions of the Future'. It's been a fairly big success, but I've hit a brick wall and can't get around it. I'm seeing if this story will help jump-start my mind into the proper thinking order it needs to dig me out of the hole I dug on that story. Any suggestions you have for either story would be greatly appreciated and a simple review wouldn't be half-bad either.

As for this story, I wrote this story (just the prologue) while just experimenting on different plots and ended up deciding on Reflections/Illusions. While I expect Reflections/Illusions to be far more popular than this one, Herin may appeal to a different audience. What I mean is, the Rookie Nine will be in this fic. Sadly, I couldn't fit Lee, Neji, or Tenten into here. It's not that I don't like them, it's just that they never fit into any of my stories.

(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto or any related characters, locations, etc...)

Prologue

In northern Fire Country stood a field that would forever be marked in history as the final, if not greatest battle of the Third Great Shinobi War. Out of the hundreds of shinobi that participated in the war, only a handful remained. Crouching over in the middle of the remarkably emptier battlefield – littered with hundreds of dead bodies, kunai, steaming gouges and craters left over from various jutsu – knelled the bloodstained Hokage and vassal of the infamous Kyuubi No Kitsune, Uzumaki Naruto. In his arms, he held the woman he promised to marry, Hyuga Hinata. A kunai wound carved deep into her stomach.

"Hinata please, please answer me!" pleaded the blond. "Please say something!"

"Na-Naruto-kun?" she asked weakly.

"Yes, yes I'm here!" he said with sudden hope in his voice as he gently wiped a small line of blood from the corner of her lips.

"Naruto-kun?" she asked slowly. "I'm so happy to see you. I don't think I'm going to make it though."

"Don't say that!" he screamed, "Don't you ever give up, you hear me! Your strong, you can make it through this. I know you can."

"I'm sorry Naruto-kun, but I can't. It hurts to much." she said as her eyes started to grow heavy.

"Hinata! You're the strongest person I know. You can't let this beat you." he begged "You can't leave me alone. Hinata, I love you." he stated quietly.

"And I love you too, Naruto-kun. I'm sorry." she said as her eyes closed for the last time. Her face set in a content fashion only the dead can accomplish.

Hinata wasn't the only friend Naruto had lost today, there were many of his closest companions lying dead throughout the field. Although Naruto knew of his lost friends, none of them had devastated him like the loss of Hinata. A Kiri-nin had assassinated Shikamaru while on the back lines. He was in charge of tactics and one of Naruto's closest friends. Shino was next to fall; he was killed in battle while fighting off a small clan of Kumo-nin that had a blood limit that allowed them to send small electric shocks across their bodies. His beetles were not able to attach onto the enemy without frying themselves, effectively making the bugs useless. He went down shortly after coldly killing each of the clan members with his bare hands and a couple kunai.

Ino had possessed a enemy genin and was infiltrating the enemy ranks looking for a weak point in their defenses with Chouji protecting her. When Chouji had resorted to using the Red Akamichi Food Pill to keep from being overwhelmed, he charged into the enemy ranks, determined to take out as many as possible to buy Ino enough time to do what needed to be done so she could get away. With Chouji distracted and Ino in another body, Sasuke appeared, decapitated her, then turned his blade toward the dieing Akamichi clan head.

Kiba was next to be killed when Akamaru was dieing after being hit by a katon jutsu. While Kiba was mourning over his dying dog, a sound jounin approached from behind and stabbed Kiba in the back. While Sakura was busy trying to bring back the dead Kiba, Sasuke approached her and bid her farewell before killing her without any second thoughts.

Tsunade had decided that she had grown too old to effectively defend the village one year ago and relinquished her title (and paperwork) to Naruto, then left the village again to pursue the more quite life of high risk gambling. It's rumored that she left the continent and headed west, and since all shinobi wars had to happen in silence, they were not able to send a message asking for help. Jaraiya sadly, died in an epic fight with Orochimaru. He had been poisoned by a small snake that Orochimaru had slipped into his clothes during their fight, but not before taking out the proverbial Snake and his summon Manda, who had killed Gamabunta in an earlier fight by pouring his very life essence into a supercharged Rasengan.

Kakashi had died from chakra exhaustion after he crossed paths with the Rock Nin that was personally responsible for the rock slide that killed Obito. The Rock Nin created several bushins of himself and surrounded each of them with an incredibly dense outer shell. Kakashi was forced to use nine Rikari's in a row, until he found the original. Though he didn't die immediately, he rushed headfirst into the enemy ranks until his body became too exhausted to live.

One of the town's newest couples, Iruka and Shizune, had faced down three large snake summon that threatened to demolish the academy filled with students in a surprise attack. They were only able to kill one of the snakes, but were able to buy enough time for the academy students to get to a safe underground bunker before the other two serpents crushed them both.

An enraged Naruto had just killed Sasuke along with every other enemy in the field, (With his demonic prisoner enjoying every second of it) when a sound jounin that had been faking death, jumped up and tried to stab Naruto with a kunai. Hinata, the only other remaining rookie nine member, blocked the path of the flying dagger. This resulted in her fatal wound.

Naruto went into battle knowing that one or more of his friends would likely be killed on this dark day, but nobody knew, or even expected, that the opposing force's numbers would even come close to the total number it was. Konaha has usual population of around 600,000 people, military personal included. The entire enemy forces were estimated to be between 100-10,000.

Only after they came face-to-face with the opposing forces, they realized that the combined number was at least 500,000. Even though the majority of them were only genin level or so weak that they were no more of a threat that a mere foot soldier, there were still a lot of them. What made it worse is that there were so many different Hidden Villages there; there was no way to tell if the foreign Nin standing next to you was an alley or enemy. Many were saved from lethal attacks just so they could be killed by the savior.

At first, there was only Oto to fight, then Ame-nins started attacking only to be matched by the Leafs only trustworthy alley, the Suna. With the Kazekage on the front lines teamed with the Hokage, both powerful Jinchuriki, they were able to launch an impressive counter-strike against the other villages. Soon after the counter-strike begun, Naruto got word that Kumo-nins had attacked the under-guarded Konaha from the south. The Leaf-nins were forced to split their forces to both support Sand and help their defenseless village. This gave the Sound and Rain the edge they needed to press forward and slowly take out their crippled victims.

Although Kumo-nins are few in number, they make up with their cunning movements and vicious attacks, while just the opposite can be said about Sound. Leaf-nins are somewhere in the middle of the two. They tend to use well trained teams with versatile attacks to overcome obstacles in their way, and are known for its peaceful nature and forgiving people, whereas the other two are not. Another thing Leaf-nins are known for is that once they sets their mind to a goal, they accomplish that goal regardless of the odds.

One particular blond-haired shinobi had set a goal in his life that would seem nearly unattainable by any stretch of the word, let-alone if you're the most hated being in the village. Nevertheless, he stuck to his dream and through endless hours of training and sacrifice, he accomplished his goal. His goal was to be Hokage, the leader of Konaha.

Another example of this trait, called the 'Will of Fire' by one rambling old man, was Hyuga Hinata. Having to battle against her shy and quite nature, the single most powerful clan in Konaha, and the steel plated, five-inch thick skull of Uzumaki Naruto, she eventually recognized her dream of getting a certain blond-haired, blue-eyed, teenage boy to notice her.

However, no village is invincible; a good example of this took place 18 years ago, during the golden age of Konaha. The village was prosperous, vast, kind-hearted, and under the control of a strong benevolent leader. But as powerful as it was, they were not prepared for the attack of the giant Nine-Tailed Fox, the Kyuubi No Kitsune.

In order for the village to survive, the Forth Hokage used a self-sacrificing jutsu to forever seal away the demon into his newborn son. This left his son an orphan... A constantly abused orphan. After six years of being beaten in an orphanage, the Sandaime moved Naruto into a small apartment to keep him safe. As much as the Third tried to give Naruto a normal childhood, he couldn't always look after him due to his demanding job of being the village leader. This is where the term 'When the cat's away, the mice will play' came into effect.

During his childhood, Naruto had dealt with many disappointments and few happy moments. Though the happy moments would have mad an average child laugh at how minuet they compared to their own, they were the only thing that kept him legally sane. However, being alone in the field surrounded by the bodies of his closest friends, instantly made Naruto's life worthless.

"_Kyuubi!"_ yelled Naruto in his mind. The Kyuubi had been alive for eons, surly he would know how to save Hinata. _"Do you know how to save her!?"_

"**Kt, I'm sorry. Believe me I know what it's like to lose loved ones, but not even I can stop the death of a mortal."**

Tears were now falling from his eyes in an endless cascade. _"But you've been alive for basically forever. You have to know a jutsu or place I can take her that can fix her!_

"**Listen here Kit, I've been around for awhile and I've seen many things in my life that only I have been privileged to see. I've studied every art and science I could find, but nothing I know could heal that wound that she has and even if I did, I couldn't bring her back to---"** he paused.. After several seconds, he let out a long mental sigh. "**_If this works, even in the afterlife, he'll never let me 'live' this down."_** it thought.

"_But you gotta help her, if she's gone--"_ he started.

"**SILENCE!"** it demanded. "**Kit, follow my instructions carefully, don't ask questions, just do it."** he said calmly.

(AN: That was it. The next chapter will probably be appearing sometime within the next... 3 hours. I just have to maw over it for a second and make a few corrections. Remember, Review, Review, and Review. If its any incentive, I try to answer most of my reviewers questions and comment on their statements at the end of each chapter. It's not a guarantee that I will, but I try too.)


	2. Passing Glance

Chapter 1

_She was standing in a small field surrounded by three large wooden stumps. Although she had no idea why, her dream self was nervous. Looking down at herself, she noticed that she was wearing a simple, but expensive long sleeved, light blue, button-up silk shirt with ankle-length dark pants. Her body didn't look any older than thirteen, which was odd because she had just celebrated her eighteenth birthday last month. On either sides of her was a thin, but deep running forest. In the distance she could spot what looked like a large stadium surrounded by spectators._

"_Hinata?" a male voice asked from behind._

_She turned to see a flash of blond hair and blue eyes._

Beep, Beep, Beep!!!

Beep, Beep, Beep!!!

Beep, Beep, Beep!!!

She groggily woke up to the sound of her much-hated alarm clock. Slowly, she sat up, ignored the loud pops that were issued from her stiff back, grabbed the clothes that lay neatly hung on the back of her desk chair, and headed for the shower as fast as her eighteen-year-old body would allow at six-thirty in the morning. After her morning rituals were finished, she looked herself over in the mirror in order o check for any small flaws in her appearance. After looking herself over, she came to the simple conclusion. She was a freak.

The first thing anyone she meet noticed were the white/lavender eyes that looked back at them. Nobody could explain them, the optometrist's all said that it was highly uncommon, but still possible to be born with white iris's or any other random eye color, but never in the history of any medical reports issued in the last two-hundred year, had there ever been a report of anyone having lavender, pupil-less eye's that were still capable of sight.

Another thing that was weird was her hair. If you were to look at her hair indoors it would look like anyone else with dark hair. The weird part happened outside. If you seen her hair on a sunny day, you would notice faint lines of blue running through her hair. But Hinata counted herself lucky, she would rather have her hair over the bright pink hair of her friend Sakura any day.

If all these weren't enough, she was the absolute quietest person at her school (Shino doesn't count because he's, well, he's Shino. He could be loud if he wanted to, he just choose to remain silent). Which no one could figure out, because her parents were both fun loving, loud, and liked being the center of attention. It made her feel awkward to be seen anywhere with them. What added insult to injury, was that her mom had beautiful long, dark brown hair, and green eyes, while her dad had short light-brown hair and dark hazel eyes. Last time she checked, one plus one equaled two, she equaled seven.

After she was dressed in her usual attire, she headed down-stairs to eat breakfast. Her mother, Euruki Hyuga, had decided to stereotype the average housewife this morning, while her father was stereotyping the average father. Both parents were hardcore morning people, Hinata wasn't. Euruki was standing in front of the stove, complete with the light pink apron wrapped around her slim figure, while her dad Ritoka Hyuga, was sitting at the table reading a newspaper and drinking coffee.

"Good morning" said a still tired Hinata.

"Good morning," her mother replied with a smile "how was your night?"

"It was fine, I had another strange dre--"

CRASH!!!

Hinata jumped "What was that?" she asked quickly.

"New Neighbors," her dad answered "their moving into Mr. Niagara's old house. After I get off work today, were all going over to welcome them to the neighborhood."

Their neighborhood stretched out in the suburbs that bordered the forest that surrounded Konaha. Konaha is a small city surrounded by forest, rivers, and history. Lots and lots of history. Around five-hundred years ago, Konaha was one of the most powerful villages in the world. They invented some technology that's still used today; such as the camera, two-way radio, and other basic electronics. They were also reported to have unrivaled medical teams, but nearly all of the records had been dismissed due to all of the treatments revolving around the use of a special type of magic.

Legend also claims that Shinobi used to roam the land, each belonging to a certain village. Many other countries, such as Suna, also claimed to be host to hundreds of Shinobi years ago. These Shinobi were fabled to be able to use different kind of magic and illusions in order to fight one another. This theory was quickly disproved when it was said that several Shinobi battled demons as tall as buildings, using only this magic. Although the magic was proven false, the Shinobi were indeed real.

Take a metal detector, walk into a random field, and you ill most likely walk out holding a kunai knife of other archaic weapon. But over time, the Shinobi died out, and Konaha soon became just another average city, while other bigger cities soon attracted the bigger businesses.

"I didn't know Mr. Niagara moved away." said a confused Hinata.

"He didn't tell us, but he told everyone else. His reason for moving were, and I quote 'over-zealous neighbors.'" said Euruki with a glare in Ritoka's direction.

"Don't get mad at me," begged her father "he's eighty-four years old. All I did was try to do him a favor by mowing his lawn."

"Honey," started Euruki with a deadpanned look "you left a hole in his living-room wall big enough to drive a car through, and caught his oak-tree on fire. The same oak tree he planted when he moved into that house, sixty-two years ago!"

"I patched the wall for free." was his only excuse for the incident.

"And because of that little adventure, his cat refuses to go anywhere near anything purple!" she yelled back "I didn't even know cats could see purple!"

"Look, that's all in the past now. Let's eat our breakfast, I'm going to work and we'll all try to be a little less 'over-zealous' with the new neighbors."

"You try being less social," Euruki said while looking at Ritoka, then shifted her gaze over to Hinata "I saw one of them, and he was a cute boy about your age. You should go over and introduce yourself."

"Mom!" cried a embarrassed Hinata.

"I'm just saying, maybe you should go meet him, you might like to go out on a date. Your eighteen and still don't have a boyfriend. I'm just worried that your not getting enough social experience."

"Hey," Ritoka interrupted "If the girl doesn't want to date, then don't make her date." It was a fathers dream he was living, eighteen years and not one boyfriend to meet..

"We'll talk about this later, okay?" said Hinata as she got up from the table "Ino will be here soon and I still have to get ready."

After she gathered her books and homework, she walked outside to wait for her ride to school.

CRASH!!!

"DAMN IT!" came a loud shout from beside her.

Turning around, she could see a moving truck parked in front of the house next to hers. Behind the truck, she could see the lower portion of a person picking up a large crate with a small crack in the side of it. The person didn't look like they needed help with the box, but that person also didn't see that a small box labeled 'Fragile' was about to fall off the truck behind him.

Without thinking, Hinata rushed over and caught the renegade box just as it was about to fall off the edge.

After moving the box to a more level position on the truck, she turned to be greeted by a face that could only be described as a mix between (in her opinion) pure beauty and utter shock.

The teen looked to be around her age with rich blond hair, blue eye's, and three thin scars stretched horizontally across each cheek. He wore a unzipped dark orange and black jacket, a white undershirt, dark jeans, and two necklaces hung from his neck. One necklace was a plain old fashioned type with a large stone attached, while the other was a silver, heart-shaped locket hanging by a thin silver chain. His eyes were wide and his mouth hung slightly open.

The crate in his arms slowly tipped forward, unnoticed by the staring man, and fell to the ground. The air filled with the unmistakable sound of shattering glass as the contents were destroyed, but the guy in front of her either didn't care or didn't notice as he stared into her eyes.

Hinata was used to people staring at her, but just the thought that someone this attractive was looking at her caused her to blush violently. His mouth started to move as if he was trying to say something, but was interrupted by the honking of a horn.

A purple sports car pulled up and the passenger side window rolled down to reveal a slim platinum blond girl and perky, pink-haired girl.

"Hey Hinata, hurry up or we'll be late for school!" the pink one yelled in the passenger seat.

"Yeah, were already running behind because forehead girl took forever getting out." added the blond.

"O-Okay, I'm c-coming!" replied Hinata. She then turned to look at the guy standing next to her "I'm sorry, I have to go. Good-bye." he just nodded his head slowly.

As she climbed into the back seat of Ino's small car, she was met with the devilish grins of two eighteen-year-old high school seniors, who looked as if they just dug up the juiciest blackmail imaginable. In their minds, they had.

"So," started Ino.

"Who was the hot guy?" finished Sakura.

"I-I don't know, we didn't get to talk. I think he's my new neighbor." Hinata had met the two in elementary school, but they never became friends until lately. She still stuttered around them every once-in-awhile, but after she started the sentence, she would momentarily forget the annoying habit.

"I approve." stated Ino simply.

"You approve? You don't even know who he is, where he came from, what he's like, and yet you just approve him for our sweet little Hinata? He could be a creep!" yelled Sakura as she started into a rant.

"Maybe, but then at the very least, he's a sexy creep."

"That doesn't matter, what matters is that--" continued Sakura.

It was like this every morning, not over the discussion of who was right for Hinata, but an argument in general. Ino would say something, then Sakura would disagree, then Ino would insult Sakura, then Sakura would retaliate. It was always settled by the time they got to school, but Hinata had no idea how.

Lately, while Sakura and Ino would fight, Hinata would think about the strange dream she always seemed to have. It wasn't always the same dream though, sometimes she would be in a strange office talking to either a kind old man, a loud, large chested young woman, or a stern man with white eye's like hers that were always full of anger.

None of these people in her dreams she had ever met, but other times she would dream about being in a classroom with younger versions of all her friends, or walking down a strange road, the kind you see in text-books about life hundreds of years ago. But the weirdest part of the dream has to be whenever she would turn a corner or look in a certain part of the classroom where she would always see yellow; then she would always wake up with a deep feeling of emptiness.

As they arrived at school, Sakura was defending Sasuke from Ino's mysterious hatred against him, their other argument long forgotten. Hinata was still lost in thought about what the strange dreams were about, when their was a tap on her window. Snapping back to reality, she glanced around and realized that Ino and Sakura had already gotten out to the car. Quickly, she got out and was welcomed by the sight of Kiba, next to him was Shino. The two boys she'd met in elementary school who were always by her side.

Nothing romantic had ever passed between her and them in all the time they knew each other. They were more like brothers to her and always seemed to support her.

"Oi, Hinata. Class is starting and we've been waiting for ya." said Kiba, the louder of the two boys. Shino, the quite one, just nodded his head.

"I'm sorry. You guys didn't need to wait." Hinata said quickly, feeling bad that they were late because of her.

"Nonsense. We wouldn't let you walk into class late, all alone again." said Kiba "Last time you nearly fainted when the teacher told you to stand up and tell the class why you were late."

"We're going to get detention if we wait any longer." added Shino briefly.

"Yeah, lets get going."

The three had first period Biology together, along with the rest of their friends. It was the only class that Kiba didn't need constant help in. Which was good because science was Hinata's worst subject. She had more of a Grammar/Literature affinity.

When they got to class they found that the teacher had yet to show up. They each went to sit together in the back corner of the class next to the rest of 'The Weird Group' as named by the more popular students of this school. The group consisted of Hyuga Hinata, Inuzuka Kiba, Aburame Shino, Yamanaka Ino, Hurano Sakura, the lazy, yet intelligent Nara Shikamaru, and his self-proclaimed 'pleasantly plump' friend Akamichi Chouji.

They each had a reason for being in the 'Weird Group'. Hinata was labeled weird at first glance due to her eyes, Ino used to be the center of popularity, but after she started accusing people for insulting her when they were clearly minding their own business, she started to fade from popularity.

Sakura, like Hinata, was labeled weird when she came to school on her first day with naturally bright pink hair. Shikamaru just didn't put forth enough effort to be place in the 'Smart Person' group with the rest of the student body that came anywhere close to matching his intelligence. Chouji was an insane eater, Kiba was basically a wild animal with enough brain power to put on clothes, and Shino was a efficient, silent kid that never talked.

But aside from their many different qualities, they all felt comfortable being around each other the moment they met. That and they each hated the most popular guy in school at first sight (with the exception of Sakura). The guys name, Uchiha Sasuke.

Sitting in the back corner talking as they do every morning, they were interrupted by the teacher walking into the classroom. Their teacher, a short, bald, slim man, with a goatee, and a bright outlook on life, was smiling his usual smile as he sat down at his cluttered desk.

"Sorry class, I was running late this morning." he said as he started taking row of the class. "Okay class, lets get started." he said as he stood up to start his lecture, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

"Come in, the doors open." the teacher called out. A second later, the principle stuck her head into through the door, waving for the teacher to follow her out of the class.

Hinata loved the principle of the school, she had helped Hinata out on several different occasions in the past, such as when her parents were sent to the hospital because of a car wreck when she was in ninth grade. She had no other family in the state and the hospital was a five hour drive away. The principal had personally driven her there and back. She was a tall woman with long dark hair and brown eyes.

After several minutes, the teacher walked back into the class followed by the principal. Then the teacher announced "Okay class, we have a new student joining us today. He just enrolled today, everyone I like to introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto."


	3. Fated Meeting

(AN: Hey guys, another update for this fic. I know it's not nearly as good as my other one, but it does wonders to write a fic that your not all that worried about. There's less stress and gets the creative juices flowing so that I can use them on my other fic. But at the same time, this one has a simplistic charm to it that I find incredibly relaxing to write.

I pretty much have this one mapped out as far as the storyline goes, but I'm always open for suggestions and creative criticism. Just because it's a secondary fic, doesn't mean I don't care for it, though. These are all extensions of myself, all of which I would like to get some feedback on. So review if you don't mind. If you like it, then just tell me that you did. Many readers look for stories that have a large number of reviews so that they know which ones people are responding too. Or if you have a better summary, for either one of my fics, then tell me.

I had 228 hits on this story so far. Only 4 reviews. Thats roughly 2 percent! 2 percent of the people that read this story took the initiative and tried to help me by showing me how I could improve it! Come on guys, it's all for the sake of the other readers and yourself. Review.)

(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, any characters, locations, or concepts besides the original content in this story.)

Chapter 2

Fated Meeting

"I'd like to introduce you to Uzumaki Naruto."

Hinata glanced up just in time to see a tall boy walk into the classroom, but was too distracted trying to figure out the question on the worksheet she had forgotten to start last night. So far, she had a total of two of twenty done.

"Hey Hinata, It's your boyfriend." whispered a grinning Ino.

"What?" asked a blushing Hinata. When she looked up, there he was. The boy from this morning was standing at the front of the class. His gaze was locked on Hinata and her group. If she wasn't mistaking, he looked as if he'd been crying recently due to the slight puffiness around his eyes.

The principal spoke up next "Since Mr. Uzumaki is new to this school, would anyone like to show him around?"

Within the span of a heartbeat, Ino had raised her hand and yelled "Hinata would like too."

Mrs. Miyazaki, the principal, turned her head to Hinata "Would you Hinata? It'd be a huge help." knowing that the shy girl wouldn't refuse a direct question. Secretly, she wished that Hinata would find someone nice to form a relationship with, but as principal, she was supposed to discourage relationships on school grounds.

With that said, every head in the classroom turned to look at the shy girl. Hinata was shocked that Ino would do that her without even asking. Then she realized that they were expecting an answer, and she wasn't the type of person to refuse a direct question that was asked to her. "Y-y-yes, I will." she said in a minuscule voice.

"Excuse me? I didn't hear what you said." said the principle as she turned her head to hear her better.

Ino chose to answer for her again "She said that she'd love to." she said with a smile.

Mrs. Miyazaki just smiled "Okay Mr. Uzumaki, why don't you go sit down next to Hinata so class can get started."

"Okay." was Naruto's only response as he walked over and sat down.

"Hi," said Naruto, breaking the ice "I'm Naruto."

"Hyu-Hyuga H-Hinat-at" was her stuttered reply.

"Nice to meet ya. I'm sorry about freezing up earlier this morning, I didn't expect to see anyone my own age in that neighborhood."

"It's o-okay, I ho-hope nothing w-was broken because of m-me."

"Don't worry about that, I got a bunch of crap that just piles up." he said with a smile. "I needed to get rid of some of it anyways."

Just then, Ino decided to jump in between the two "So, Naruto was it?" she asked "Can I ask you a personal question?"

"Sure." he said without a second of hesitation.

"What's with the necklace's?" she asked while gesturing towards his throat. "Kinda fruity, isn't it?"

"Oh these?" he asked as he grabbed them each between a finger. Then singled out the one with the large stone attached "This one," holding it up "I won off a old lady that was like a grandma to me. She died awhile back, so I wear it to remember her." Then held up the silver locket "And this one, I got from someone special to me that went away for a while." he said sadly "but I'll give it back real soon. I promised." he finished with a distant tone and a far off look.

"Oh, I'm sorry." quickly amended Ino. She hadn't meant to make him feel bad. "Well, let me introduce you to the group." she said as she pointed a thumb behind her towards the group of friends. "The one with the perpetually bored look is Shikamaru, the red head next to him is Chouji. The one with the glasses is Shino and the one that looks like he crawled out of the dog-pound is Kiba. Oh, and the pink one over there is Sakura."

"Hey..." said Shikamaru in a half-assed tone.

"Hi!" chimed the enthusiastic Sakura.

"Hoow-aar-yaa" greeted Chouji with a mouthful of food.

"I'm Kiba." said the dog boy while shaking hands with Naruto.

Shino just nodded.

"Nice to meet you all!" said Naruto with a happy grin "I look forward to getting to know you guys."

"Alright," announced the teacher "everyone in their seats. Get out yesterdays assignment, and I'll take it up in a moment."

"_Oh, I forgot to do it!"_ thought a panicked Hinata. Her grade in Biology was already border lining D's, and this wouldn't help it any.

"Ah shit!" growled Kiba from behind Hinata "I knew I was forgetting something." Evidently, he had forgotten about the homework also.

As the teacher walked down her isle picking up papers, Hinata mentally started thinking up different excuses as to why it wasn't done. When he reached her desk, she started to stutter out her reasons, but the teacher simply picked up her work, flipped it over to look at the back, and said "Very good Hinata. I know you've been struggling in here, but it seems you finally found some solid footing on the subject." With that said, he continued on his merry way too start scowling Kiba.

"Next time Mr. Inuzuka," stated the teacher in a agitated voice "you should ask for help if you can't figure out the chapter."

Confused, Hinata quickly glanced around the room in a attempt to figure out what just happened. As her eyes passed over her new neighbor, she could clearly see him staring at her. His gaze light, but almost solid when being filtered through his blue-plate eyes. When Hinata stopped to focus on him, she received a quick, wordless wink, then he turned his sights out to the nearby window.

The rest of the hour went by fairly quick. To her embarrassment, Naruto turned out to understand the lesson better than Hinata. Though he had felt compelled to go back over the parts she didn't understand with boundless patients. When she would ask him a question, even if it was for the fifth time, he would just smile and start over at the beginning without the slightest hint of frustration..

Finally, the bell rang. That was a strange mixture of the longest and shortest hour she could remember. As was custom to her, she sat in her seat until the majority of the students had rushed out and collided into the giant mass of ever changing isles and lines. When the number of bodies in the room could be counted on one hand, Hinata started to stand only to realize that Naruto was still next to her.

"Oh," she gasped "I-I'm sorry Naruto, I d-didn't see that you were still there."

"Don't worry about it." he insisted with a wave of his hand "I was going to ask you to look over my schedule and see if we have any more classes together, but you looked kind of distracted. Sorry." He then pulled a small slip of paper out from his jacket pocket and handed it to her.

After a quick summary of the schedule, she told him excitedly "Oh, we have sixth and last period together, Konoha History and Gym! Also lunch!" She had to restrain herself from physically slapping a hand over her mouth, but the prospect of sharing another three hours with him put her on cloud nine.

"Alright!" he said while pumping a fist into the air with as much enthusiasm as she had shown "I look forward to seeing you again."

And with that said, he departed. Leaving Hinata to stare in disbelief that he would actually look forward to meeting her again. In a daze, she headed to her next class. At the door to her second hour, Financing, she stopped. If her mind had a throat, it would have just made a swallowing sound. Her Financing class was shared with Ino and Sakura.

But she had to be brave. If she wasn't, then Naruto might lose interest in her and flock to someone prettier. She blushed at the thought of Naruto having any type of attraction to her. With a deep breath, she marched into the room with her head held high, and confidence in her strides.

Without warning, two pairs of feminine arms latched under each of hers and started dragging her towards the bathroom. Looking to both sides, she could see Ino and Sakura smiling mischievously at her. In Sakura's other hand, she held a makeup bag.

This could not end well.

(AN: Well, tell me what you think.)


	4. Visions

(An: Hey guys, I'm back to update Herin, Huzzah! As you can see, it's short. Real short. Only about 1000 words (Author's notes not included). But I have spring break going on, and I'm working **75 hours** at a part time job! I'm not going to be able to write all that much so I'm gonna use this chapter to answer some questions at the end.)

(Disclaimer: I don't own Naruto, any characters, locations, or concepts besides the original ones.)

Chapter 4

She felt ridiculous. After the initial ambush, Ino and Sakura spent the whole second hour and the majority of the third in the bathroom playing 'Makeup Mannequin' with her. She was fairly sure that at one point of another, her face fazed from one end of the rainbow to the other, but near the end, Hinata had come to realize that the two girls were artists in their own right.

She wasn't a conceited person, but when she looked in the mirror to see the final result, she was surprised to see that she looked... Pretty.

They didn't do anything heavy or innovative; this time. They just used very subtle colors and effects that outlined her features. A little blush here, and a little lipstick there. But now that she was walking around in public hallways, she felt like a freak. It wasn't that everyone was staring at her, but she could feel their eyes tracing her as she walked past them. It was just as bad.

When she neared the cafeteria door, anxiety hit her stomach like a brick. Naruto would be in the lunchroom waiting for her. He would see her like this. She had only just met him, but the thought of him laughing at her brought forth an ache deep within her chest. Deeper that any humans physical chest could ever reach.

She stood in the doorway that led to the crowded lunch room. She couldn't do it. She could hardly see herself approaching him on a normal day, let alone when she was dressed as a clown.

"_You can't do this!"_ she mentally screamed at herself_ "Your not good enough!"_

"_Your a failure!"_ said a stern voice.

She blinked in surprise of the sudden voice, but when she opened her eyes, she wasn't standing in the cafeteria doorway any more. She was... nowhere. She was surrounded by darkness. In front of her was a boy that she had never seen before. He was taller than average with shoulder length brown hair and a meal plate tied onto his forehead. His eyes were milk white.

"_Your not strong enough,"_ he said_ "why not just give up?"_

Before she could respond, another man appeared beside the boy. He looked a lot like the first boy, only much taller, with colder eyes, and a older build.

"_Your weak!"_ he yelled _"Your a disgrace to the Hyuga name!"_

Tears were starting to form in her eyes. These two people that she had never met were belittling her as if she had killed someone. She was about to ask why, when the third person appeared. This time a small girl. She looked like Hinata had when she was younger, only with longer hair. Her eyes were the same as Hinata's, too.

"_Your not even worth my time."_ she said in a disapproving voice _"Get out of my sight!"_

Hinata had fallen on her knees after the little girl had spoken down to her. It was as if they knew exactly how to hurt her. She felt herself start to cry. She covered her face with her hands, then after several seconds, a light breeze danced across her face. When she lowered her hands, she found herself standing in a field with three large stumps jutting from the ground. It was the same field as the one in her dream.

This time wasn't like the other time, though. Standing in front of her, was her younger self staring at her with calculating eyes. Younger Hinata was about to talk, but was interrupted by a voice from behind both of them ask "Hinata?"

They both whirled around to see a short, blond haired boy in a ridiculously bright orange outfit. The six lines spanning across his cheeks gave way to his identity. The two young kids talked for several minutes, but Hinata only understood about half of them. One of the few things that stood out in the conversation was the word 'Proud Failure'. She didn't know why, but those words stuck some kind of cord deep within her.

Then, the younger Hinata all but said the words "I love you" to Naruto, but the boy didn't seem able to pick up on anything remotely close to a context clue. Older Hinata was about to speak up when the young Naruto called out from behind his back "But ya know what, I really like people like you!" and left in a slight hurry. Even though the boy couldn't be any older that twelve, both Hinata's blushed a bright scarlet red.

When the boy was out of sight, the smaller Hinata turned to stare directly in the elder eyes. In a tone that portrayed none of the shy, quite girl she just was, "Trust him." she commanded "Believe in him."

A bright flash later, and Hinata found herself standing in the doorway to the cafeteria. The words "Trust him" still echoing though her thought. Even though random visions weren't part of her normal, everyday schedule, this one felt comforting to have. While the first part was a little disturbing, the second half had calmed her mind and frantic heart beat.

The smaller Hinata was definitely her in essence, but not mind. She seemed wiser; more sure of herself near the end. Though it did confuse her, the vision felt natural and, surprisingly, didn't register very high on the top of her 'What to Worry About' list.

After several deep breaths, she walked though. Since this school was only the fourth largest school in Konoha, the cafeteria was only the size of a basketball court at the most. Inside, the tables were spread out parallel to the one next to it. There was a good size line waiting to get their lunch, but before she walked over to stand in it, someone yelled "Hinata!"

In the far corner, sitting with the rest of her friends, was Naruto. Next to him, was a empty seat and a full tray of food, and he was pointing at it. Due to the fact that a incredibly loud voice just called out her name, the entire room shifted to look in her direction. With a heavy blush, she stumbled over to the seat. Eyes tracking her the entire time.

Hesitantly, she sat next to Naruto; him smiling the entire time.

(AN: That's it for this chapter. Now, on to the fans; To Dragon Man 180: I agree with the whole Hinata/Makeup thing. She looks better with natural looks.

Han-Ko: It's incredibly relaxing to write. I use this as a kind of stress reliever.

Ancient Kyuubi: I recommend trying a behavioral meds... It's just a suggestion.

Jays Arraven: People have said that both of my fics are revolutionary and such. (I doubt that they really are, though)

GraityTheWizard: To tell you the truth, I hate future fics. I just can't read them because they always find some way to incorporate things that the author likes (Final Fantasy, favorite manga, etc), that the reader doesn't necessarily like. I about had a heart attack when I realized that I had written **TWO** future fics.

Destiny's sweet melody: I will eventually, but its gonna lead up to it instead of just throwing it out there. I've gotta keep you guys hooked with something.)


	5. Mistakes Happen

Alright everybody, I'm back with my next installment of Herin. I have to give credit to both kyubiteaser and Gadalla Rune for the 'inspiration' I used to write this chapter. Before today, I had only written about one page, but when I read that the 'Into the World' series might be brought back from the grave, I started to write, but eventually got bored and quit again. Then I seen that 'The Person I Admire' got updated and decided not to be a hypocrite and update my stories.

Before you jump to conclusions, I'm not planning on abandoning my fics, I just procrastinate a lot. Apparently, many of you are worried that I will, but believe me when I say that I will find a replacement author to finish my stories if I do ever decide to quit.

I'm planning on posting the new chapter of Reflections/Illusions sometime within the next couple days, so don't worry (If there are any of you who actually do).

PS: This chapter might not be as good as they usually are, but I'm tired and not in the best state of mind.

**EDIT: **For reasons beyond my comprehension, the last owner of my computer felt compelled to set auto-correct on this to change the date from the tenth to the thirty-first. The same thing was set for the twelfth, twenty-fifth, and the thirtieth. Those were set to change to different dates other than the thirty-first. Whoever owned this thing last put in uncountable amount of auto-changes and other tweaks on this heap I call a computer. It makes it hell to type on, but I can't find a reset button so I'm pretty much stuck.

(Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, any related characters, locations, or concepts.)

Herin

Chapter 5

They all sat around the table talking about random subjects; the weather, music, and so on. Most of it was directed towards Naruto and his opinions on them. He would answer each question in stride and move on to the next without hesitation.

Hinata was sitting quietly next to Naruto listening to each of his replies, eager to learn more about the fascinating new kid. She hadn't missed the fact that he tended to look towards her more than anyone else, though. Apparently, Ino hadn't missed it either, because she would smile and squeal under her breath every time Naruto would stare at Hinata. All attention was drawn to Naruto when the next question was asked.

"Hey Naruto," said Sakura "where did you live before you moved here?"

"Well," said Naruto "I lived in a orphanage in a town called Suna."

"Suna?" asked Chouji "Where's that at?"

"Its about two hundred kilometers from the capital of Wind Country." answered Shikamaru "It use to claim itself a shinobi village like Konoha. It lasted a bit longer than any other villages like it, but died down about four hundred years ago. Now, all thats left is a small town... No offense, Naruto." he finished with that last part added on. Shikamaru was a person that strongly believed that the future lies in the past and an honor student for the history classes. It was the only thing he can boast about, if he ever felt like it.

"None taken." Naruto said "Small is an understatement; the place would have taken up more space if it didn't exist."

"But why did you move here?" asked Sakura "Its not like its a very appealing town or anything. If I had a choice, then I would have moved to the city. All those lights..." she trailed off in a daydream.

"Because I love history!" he said with enthusiasm "And what place has more history than Konoha?"

"Why were you in an orphanage?" bluntly asked Kiba before receiving an equally blunt slap to the back of the head, courtesy of Shino.

"My apologizes, Naruto." said Shino in a monotone voice that somehow scolded Kiba with it's tone while still sounding neutral "Kiba's not overly concerned about offending people and meant no disrespect. He is merely curious. Please, do not feel obligated to answer his question."

"No worries," said Naruto with a grin directed to both of them "I've come to terms with that along time ago."

"If that is the case, then I must admit that I am fairly curious as well."

"Same here." said Sakura.

"Me, too." chirped Ino.

"Yep." added Chouji's.

"Guilty." grumbled Shikamaru with his head laying on his arms.

"I would like to know, too." said Hinata from beside him.

"You see," started Naruto "I was born into a kind of war zone. The night I was born, my mom got too stressed out and went into early labor where she died after having me. An hour later, my dad led an assault and took the enemy head on. He died too that night, but not after taking out the entire enemy force with him."

"Oh," gasped Hinata "I'm sorry."

"Like I said," laughed Naruto "don't worry about it. The entire mess happened farther back then I care to remember."

"Was it a battle I've heard of?" asked Shikamaru "Your father's, I mean."

"I doubt it." said Naruto "In my entire life, I've only been able to find it mentioned in books, even in passing, only once or twice."

"What was it called?"

It took Naruto several seconds to respond to that question, but he eventually said "I'm not sure if it has a official name, but it was always called the 'Great Fox Massacre'."

"Kind of a odd name..." said Shikamaru leaving a implied question.

"Well, it happened on October tenth; the same date as the Kyuubi attack was said to be on." Naruto got a upturned eye-brow from Shikamaru in response.

"The what?" asked Kiba.

"If you would pay attention in history class, you'd know." said Shikamaru lazily, receiving a low growl from the boy.

"Do you live alone?" asked Chouji, trying to get the conversation turned around before violence broke out.

"Yeah, but I'm used to it." answered Naruto loudly, picking up on what Chouji was attempting.

"D-do you need any help unpacking?" asked Hinata, knowing he still had a entire truck load of boxes that needed to be unpacked.

"No, but thanks for the offer." he said "Everything should be set up already."

"Your already unpacked?" asked a surprised Hinata "B-but this morning..." she stared, but was cut off by a loud "Uhhgg!" issuing from Ino.

"Whats wrong?" Sakura asked.

The entire mood of the table changed when the next word was spoken. Several just glared, but others had different reactions. Sakura blushed, Shikamaru sighed heavily, Hinata's head turned downward, and Naruto's entire body went ridged when Ino muttered the word "Uchiha."

"Hey, Whiskers!" called a cool voice from behind Hinata. Everyone stared, glared, or just tried to look uninterested when Uchiha Sasuke approached their table.

"H-Hi, Sasuke!" chimed Sakura as he stopped at the edge of the table.

Without even glancing in her direction, he asked the blond "What's your name?"

Naruto, in response, turned to face the newcomer with a look of extreme aggravation. "Uzumaki Naruto." he all but growled.

It might have just been her imagination, but when Naruto turned, Hinata could have sworn his eyes flashed a dark purple.

"Well Uzumaki," said the Uchiha "since your new around here, I'll forgive you for the mistake you made."

"There's been a mistake alright," Hinata heard Naruto mumble under his breath "Which one are you talking about?" he asked louder.

"The table you chose to sit at, of course." he said with a smirk.

"Why I..." yelled Kiba as he started to stand up, but was held in place by both Shino and Shikamaru.

Paying him no mind, Sasuke continued "But I'm a forgiving guy, so the invitations still open. Come sit at my table."

"No thanks, I'm comfortable here." shot back Naruto, clearly not comfortable.

"Last chance." warned Sasuke.

"Fuck off." said Naruto in a dead paned voice.

"What?" Sasuke asked, not used to being denied "You would rather be with these freaks over staying with me where you'll actually be liked?"

"I'm liked plenty here," Naruto snapped "and I like them back!" As he said it, he widened his arms for emphasis. One arm went out in front of Shino, who was sitting beside him, and the other went behind Hinata's back.

All that Sasuke seen, was Naruto put his arm around Hinata and misread it – or not – and laughed out "You like 'ol Ugly Eyes?" his laugh was less of a 'ha ha', and more of a 'ku ku'. "I hope that _ALL_ of your children don't turn out to be complete freaks! Send me an invitation to your wedding, I want some pictures of the freaks in white!" he called out as he walked back to his table, laughing the whole way.

After he left, Naruto couldn't help but whisper "Teme!" then turned to Hinata.

Hinata was in, for lack of a better term, emotional purgatory. In the same sentence, the guy she like had been accused of liking her back, but she was also called ugly to her face. Anger was countered by joy, while pride was countered by embarrassment, crest-fallen to cloud-nine, excitement to rise, only to be pushed back down by depression. Each countered the other and left her with a blank face, but despite all of the mixed emotion, a blush still developed on her face.

Naruto, who must have guessed from the intense red color of her face, smiled widely to her.

"Don't let him get to you, Naruto." Chouji said "The guys an ass, plain and simple."

"That's putting it mildly," said Kiba with a light chuckle "but he's got all the girls fawning over him like he's some sort of god... With the exception of Hinata of course." he quickly amended.

"Hey!" shrieked Ino "Don't include me as one of his followers!"

"You do kinda come off as a fan girl at first appearance." commented Shikamaru with a knowing grin/frown that only he could pull off.

"Come on guys," scolded Sakura "he's not that bad."

"I really don't know what you girls see in the guy!" ranted Kiba "He's a prick, through and though!"

While the argument continued with increased violence, Hinata turned to Naruto and whispered "Thank you for standing up for us, Naruto."

"Anytime," reassured Naruto "but don't think too badly about him. Guys like him do have some light buried in them, but sometimes the only way to dig it out is to beat 'em over the head with a shovel." he finished with a gesture akin to swinging a imaginary baseball bat.

Hinata giggled politely at his antics, forgetting both Sasuke and his words.

vvvvvvvvvv

The next two hours somehow combined to form both the fastest and slowest two hours in the history of her life. One minute she was in her teachers assistant class, helping out the secretary in the office, the next she was talking to Shino and Kiba in her Literature class.

While each class would take an eon to pass, the next came entirely to soon. The knowledge that the man that had absolutely no right to hold the amount of attraction he held from her, might possibly be interested in her was making her a little bit... anxious.

But at the moment, she had something to take her mind off of the boy. Well, maybe keep it of the thought of her impending meeting.

Because the Literature teacher didn't feel like covering the dramatic turn of Wave Countries economy and it's impact on poetry from that time period, Mr. Yagime had decided to give the class a 'study period' while he graded papers. The papers were apparently was glued to the back of his eye lids, because he had his head laying on his desk. Face down.

This left Kiba, Shino, and Hinata to ponder over the new student. "I'm telling ya," Kiba said "There's something off about him. It's no that I don't like him, he just makes me think that he knows more than what he lets on."

"He has neither said nor done anything that should earn out distrust," replied Shino neutrally "but I must agree that it is odd that he immediately tried to befriend us, even though it is obvious that we are not the most popular students at this school. It goes against human nature to favor the outcasts."

"Maybe we just remind him of his old friends from Suna." suggested Hinata "And he did stand up for us against Sasuke. I don't see why that would make you guys think he was not honest."

"But that is the problem," said Shino "I have no doubt in my mind that says he was dishonest with us today. Every word he spoke was the truth."

"But he edited." finished Kiba.

"He avoided telling Shikamaru the name of the battle that his father died in, but for what reason would he have for not saying?" asked Shino.

Hinata couldn't think up a reason to counter him, so she just gave a nervous sigh.

"But despite all of that," continued Shino, slightly aggravated "I still can't bring myself to not trust him."

The image of the small Hinata flashed through her thoughts along with the words "Trust him." echoing in her mind.

Kiba turned to face directly at her and asked "Try not to get too involved with him until we know abit more about the guy, okay?" he finished with a knowing smile.

"Kiba!" quietly yelled Hinata while hiding her blush behind her hands.

"I agree," said Shino "were not telling you to stay away from him, but try to take it slow and keep your eyes open."

While Kiba said it in a teasing tone, Shino talked in a balanced, controlled voice that Hinata recognized as the 'Were just looking out for you' voice. "Fine," she sighed, still blushing "but can we please change the subject? I've already had enough advice about my... love life today." she choked out the last three words as memories of both her parents, Ino, Sakura, and now Kiba and Shino all giving her their own lessons on what she should do about her relationships. If she looked at it from an odd angle, that advice could even have been given by Sasuke. But she stopped that train of thought before it got any farther.

Before Shino could reply, the bell rang; telling Hinata that it was time for another class with the blond enigma.

(AN: Well, that was it for this chapter. I dropped a hint in here about the past if anyone just so happened to picked up on it. As always, I want to thank all of you who reviewed the last chapter and thanks in advance for all of you who are about to review this one. You guys are awesome!

Oh, and if anyone would like to try to come up with any character designs, like clothing and such, that would be a huge help. I pretty much suck when it comes to fashion. So if you could give me a drawing of a 'New Age Rookie Nine' I'd be eternally thankful and post it on my profile for visual help. I'd like to keep them as close to anime style as possible (pointless belts, random jewelry, impractical zippers, et cetera...) to keep the Naruto feel going. Thanks!)


	6. Breathless

Well, I'm back for an update on Herin. Let me start off by saying that you guys are lucky I'm even putting this out. Over the past month, I've had to deal with High School Graduation, Hell Month at work, my computer blowing up, the purchasing of a new (used), Stephanie Meyers releasing 'The Host', the discovery that the computer I just bought was stolen, getting my computer arrested, getting a new computer (Again!!), and the discovery of World of Warcraft... Yeah, I've been busy.

But in my little pool of grief, I have figured out the perfect ending to Herin. I must say that I'm quite proud of it, but I digress. Without further adieu, I present chapter six of Herin

Herin

Chapter 6

Breathless

WAM!!

Another helpless teen fell to the ground after being hit with the projectile launched from Uzumaki Naruto. Now, only three people remained standing in a hope to stop the slaughter that was taking place at their very school.

Hinata counted herself lucky so far, but that luck couldn't hold out for long. Not with all of the horrible, bloody violence that surrounded her.

She could almost feel the chills that ran down her allies backs as Uzumaki once again picked up his weapon of choice. How could one man be responsible for all the pain and suffering that took place within the last fifteen minutes? It was inhuman...

"AAAUUGGG!!" screamed one of the boys as he charged headfirst at the enemy, his weapon prepared to strike. With a sudden flash of red, the young man was down.

It was at this time that Hinata's only remaining ally made the gravest mistake he could possibly make. In a rush of motion, the guy grabbed Hinata by the shoulders and held her in front of him as a human shield. The red ball that hit his groin was still spinning as it fell away.

It all started when the Physical Education teacher announced that they were going to play Dodge-Ball. The team captains were quick to pick the new guy for their team, Naruto, but saved Hinata until the very last. At first, it looked as if Hinata's team was going to win, since they had taken out most of the opposing team, but the moment when Naruto became the last one standing, he started to pick off the other team one by one. Now, Hinata was the only one left.

There was reason as to why Hinata was picked last; it was because she was far to gentle to play games such as this. Everyone had eventually learned that she was more of a liability over an advantage. But with the object of her affection watching, she had to try, right?

Though her eyes were concentrated on her opponent, she was vaguely aware of the rubber red ball that lay at her feet.

"Come on, Hinata!" shouted Naruto from across the gym "Show 'em what you can do!" Gesturing towards the stands filled with beaten and bruised teens.

Hesitantly, Hinata bent down to pick up the ball.

A few cheers of encouragement emerged from the onlookers, but most of them had deemed the game either lost or pointless. The few shouts that did occur worked towards discouragement instead of the intended upliftment.

Using the underarm method, she threw it. It was a pitiful throw; the ball arched high and at a low speed.

As easily as swatting a fly, Naruto batted the incoming ball straight up, then knocked it back towards Hinata using his ball as a bat. After a quick bounce, the ball was back in her hands.

"I know you can do better than _that_!" scowled Naruto "Now, throw it like you mean it!"

Several more cheers of "You can do it!" and "Kick his ass!" came from the vengeful crowd.

Darkness rimmed Hinata's line of vision. _"Don't faint, Don't faint, Don't faint,..."_ she silently chanted. But embarrassment was overwhelming her as the room started to spin. _"Please,"_ her mind prayed _"don't let me faint. Not in front of him!"_

"SHUT UP!!" yelled Naruto, bringing Hinata out of her pre-faint swooning. They all quite talking to stare.

"Hinata," he said "I have an idea."

Evidently, what began as a violent and bloody battle for supremacy, had turned into a throwing lesson for the quite girl.

"I want you," he continued "to close your eyes and picture yourself in a forest."

She did; surprisingly easy. In her mind though, she found herself not on the forest floor, but on a high tree branch.

"Now, imagine your running."

In her mind, she was jumping from treetop to treetop.

"Okay, now your chasing someone." he commanded.

She was now chasing a man dressed in, what looked like, a body suit of black Kevlar.

"You want to catch that person. That person hurt somebody you love."

In her mind, Hinata imagined the man hurting her parents. Not in any particular way, but just the thought was enough to make her blood boil.

"Now," said Naruto "Open your eyes!" he yelled.

When she did, the vision in her mind mended with reality. The man in her mind turned around and threw something small and black towards her.

On instinct, she spun her body to the left. Using the momentum from the spin, she swept her arm horizontally towards the man in front of her. The bright red ball that she had thrown impacted heavily into the mysterious man's stomach as his ball flew unhindered to her right.

As reality overtook fantasy, Hinata watched as Naruto fell to the ground. A proud look upon his pained face.

"Naruto!" she screamed in surprise.

The cheering of the crowd went unnoticed by Hinata as she ran to him.

"I'm so sorry!" she pleaded as she knelt beside him "Please don't be angry!"

He was gasping uncontrollably while holding his stomach.

It took her several seconds to figure out that the painful sounding gasping noise he was making was actually a laugh.

He was laughing.

"Ha, ha," he laughed. It was a whole hearted laugh, but his lack of air made them sound hollow. "I think the phrase goes 'You Leave Me Breathless'"

Hinata's heart skipped a beat as blood rushed to her face. _"It was a joke. A pun, not a confession."_

"Anyways," he said after several seconds of breathing "I think I'll be fine. You have one hell of a throwing arm, though."

"I-I didn't mean to, though. It w-was an accident." stammered Hinata.

"Non-sense, just listen..."

But she didn't have to. In a rush, she realized that not only did she embarrass the boy she liked in front of the whole class, but now she was sitting next to him in front of an open crown with her face not two feet from his.

Anyone who knew Hinata could guess her next reaction.

(AN: Well, what'd ya think?)

Guys, I know I don't have the best grammar and I make a lot of mistakes... so I'm asking for help.

It's kinda embarrassing to say this, but I need a beta reader, but I don't know how the process works. I suck at file transfers and such, so if one of you would be kind enough to point me in the right direction, I'd be eternally grateful.

Oh, and special thanks to Dragon Man 180 for pointing out the wrong date. I went back and changed it to October 10th if you don't know.

REVIEW!!


	7. Necklace

Hey, I'm back with the 7th chapter of Herin. I'd like to thank my three new Beta's; TimeShifter (Herin's main Beta), Vami (Reflection/Illusions main beta and Herins second), and last but not least Dark-Compassion (Herins Secondary Beta). I regret to inform you guys that my story Refections of the Past, Illusions of the Future is going to be on a temporary Hiatus for a week or two as I rethink the story. I don't want to start writing the same chapter over and over.

Chapter 7

Necklace

_It was dark._

"_Naruto?" she heard herself ask. It was her voice asking, but it wasn't her will that made her say it._

_After several seconds of darkness, she realized she was blindfolded. Her hands were crossed over her chest in a nervous gesture. She could feel herself walking; a hand was gently holding on her elbow for guidance._

_From what she could tell, she was walking along on a tile floor and the air felt cool. The worst part though, was the silence. There wasn't a sound from the wind, birds, or even the person walking beside her. It wasn't a tense silence, just a heavy one._

"_Where are we?" she heard herself say in an insisting voice._

"_We're almost there," said a calm, male voice from beside her. It sounded like Naruto. "Don't worry."_

_After several more second of walking, her partner stopped her by placing a gentle hand on her chest. The hand felt so familiar, that there was no reaction to hit it away, even though it was obviously an inappropriate place to touch._

_The hand then left her chest and elbow. She could feel the presence of the other person step back._

"_Okay, you can take it off," he said with apparent excitement._

_Slowly, she reached her hand up to take away the blindfold. As the cloth slipped away, she found herself in front of a glass display counter. Beneath the glass sat many small silver rings, necklaces, bracelets, and various other trinkets._

_She quickly turned to see Naruto with a nervous smile on his face._

"_I don't have much money right now," amended Naruto while rubbing the back of his neck nervously, "but I can buy anything in this case..." _

_She could feel her heart speed up to the point that it didn't thump at any certain rhythm. Her breath had halted when she took the blindfold off and she had yet to take another._

"_Will you marry me?" he asked._

_Without a second thought, she lunged toward him. Locking her arms around his neck, she brought his lips in to meet hers._

_They stayed like that for a immeasurable amount of time. Reluctantly, Naruto pulled away from her. "If that was a yes, then I need to know which one you want," he said while gesturing towards the case. "If not, then I'd like to know what a 'yes' would be like."_

"_Yes!" she heard herself cheer, "Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes!" Immediately after she said that, she brought him into another kiss._

_Slowly, Naruto pulled himself away again. "If this keeps up, we'll be here all night..." he trailed of at the end. "Not that I'd mind," he added with a grin._

_As Hinata turned back towards the glass case, her eyes caught the perfect trinket. A small, silver heart-shaped locket._

"_That one's perfect," she pointed with one hand as the other wiped a tear from her eye._

_As the two shared another kiss, she could hear her name being called._

"_Hinata...Hinata..._Hinata...HINATA!"

As she opened her eyes, she could see Ino and Sakura looking at her from the front seat of Ino's car. She was laying in the back.

"We're at your house." said Ino with a wide grin on her face.

"Huh? Why are we here?" she slowly asked. Her mind was lagging behind her by several minutes.

Sakura, who shared the same grin as Ino, answered. "You fainted in gym. We got passes to take you home."

"Fainted?" asked Hinata again. Though she was not surprised by the fact that she passed out, she couldn't concentrate long enough to figure out when she did.

"Yeah, you were playing dodge ball and passed out. The principal said that it happened too often to call an ambulance, so she just told us to take you home."

"Oh," said Hinata, her mind still groggy.

Ino's grin got slightly bigger. "So, did you have a nice dream?" she asked.

"Yeah," escaped her lips before she could stop it. The pleasure from the kiss was still strong in her mind.

The other two girls burst out into giggles at her answer. "It sure sounded like you did!" laughed Ino from the front seat. "You kept yelling 'Yes, Yes, Yes'. I didn't know you had those kinds of dreams Hinata."

"I thought you were a good girl, Hinata." Sakura scowled playfully.

Finally, the words aligned themselves with their meaning.

Blushing deep scarlet, Hinata quickly tried to correct them, knowing full well it was pointless. "N-no, i-it was a k-k-kiss!"

"I'm sure there was _some_ kissing going on," Sakura told the laughing Ino.

"I-I've got to g-go," stuttered Hinata in a hurry as she scrambled out of the car. The girls were still laughing as they drove away.

"Hinata! I'm home!" came a shout from downstairs, signaling the return of her mom. Euruki was a tour guide for the Konoha Museum. It was her job to tell the history and stories surrounding ancient relics and locations. She also did a good job of completely embarrassing Hinata. Especially on her sixth grade field trip, but that was a memory which Hinata tried to keep repressed.

But if you were to look beyond the embarrassment, you would find Hinata's best friend. Her mother was the absolute easiest person for Hinata to talk to. She listened to everything Hinata had to say and always gave advice that Hinata took to heart. Hinata's trust was one of the reasons as to why Euruki was so great at embarrassing her.

Quickly, Hinata ran out of her room and down to meet her mom. She desperately needed to talk to her about everything that had happened. "Mom?" she called as she hit the bottom level of the stairs.

"I'm in here!" came a call from the kitchen.

When she walked into the kitchen, she found her mom getting ready to cook dinner.

"Mom, do you think we could talk?" asked Hinata nervously.

"Sure," Euruki said in a cheerful tone as she started cutting vegetables. "Grab the knife, pull up a tomato, we'll talk."

By the time dinner was cooking, Hinata had told her mom everything, while leaving out the hallucination and dreams. The last thing she needed was a psychological evaluation and a straight jacket.

"Aww!" her mother just sighed romantically. "My baby's in love!"

It was hard to make Hinata blush when it was only her and Euruki together, but words like 'love' would do it.

"Please don't say anything to dad," pleaded Hinata. "I don't want him to act weird around Naruto."

"His name's Naruto?" asked Euruki in surprise.

"Yeah," said Hinata as she started sitting plates on the table, "is something wrong?"

"No, nothing's wrong. It's just an old name," she said simply.

"How old?" asked Hinata, knowing her mom would start a rant. A subject change couldn't hurt, though.

"Well, there was the Rokudaime Naruto several hundred years ago; everyone from that time period decided to name their children after him when he died. Then the Naruto who brought all of the rivaling nations together by kidnapping the leaders and making them work together to escape..."

Hinata listened to her mother ramble on for a while longer; getting more off topic every minute. By the time dinner was ready and set up, Euruki was trying to get Hinata to understand the architectural similarities between the Hokage Mountain and the Kazekage Statues in the deserts of Wind country.

She was interrupted by the sound of a car door slamming outside. "I guess your father's home," Euruki said. "If you need to talk again, just ask, okay?"

"Thanks mom."

(AN: Well, what'd you think?)


	8. Pictures

**Hey guys, sorry about the slow update, but I kinda hit a writers depression. I had this amazing idea for a story; Original, heart-touching, romantic, action, the works! But after I put in on 'paper', the idea was not as good as I'd imagined and completely unoriginal. After that, I lost my enthusiasm as a writer. You guys can think Dominikku-kun for reviewing a couple days ago and giving a nice kick back into the right direction. Oh, I'm also starting back Reflections/Illusions.**

**Thank Timeshifter and Vami for editing!**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Pictures**

"_Naruto, would you like to eat with me tonight...? No, too blunt."_

"_Hey Naruto, how would you like to eat a nice, home cooked meal...? No, that's too inconsiderate."_

"_Do you like chicken and rice? My mom made some and I was wondering... No, that's too wordy."_

Line after line passed through Hinata's head as she walked the short distance to the neighboring house. It was only a seven meter gap between the two, but with every step she took, a new, more awful-sounding comment popped into her head.

Her father had the bright idea of inviting their new neighbor over for dinner, and her mother had the bright idea of sending Hinata to fetch him. Her stuttering protests fell on deaf ears as Euruki urged Hinata out the front door rather forcibly.

Ritoka, her father, had just looked on in slight confusion at the mother/daughter antics.

As she stepped onto the narrow porch, cautiously avoiding the small, scorched area on the outer corner, a flash of blond hair in the nearby window drew her attention. Though the curtains were drawn, ashe could see through a large crack from the side view.

Inside, Naruto was shirtless. It took her several seconds of staring to get past that fact and focus on her next observation. The next thing she noticed were his movements. He was shifting from pose to pose, practicing some form of martial arts that absolutely amazed her to watch. Each kata flowing into the next with such fluidity that it looked more like a dance instead of a violent movement of the body.

Since the basic layout of all of the houses on the street were the same, she recognized the room he was in as what would have been her dining room; wood floors, dull white walls, and a small arch that led into the main room. The rest of the room was completely empty, save for the small stereo in the corner that set a steady beat of thumping music.

She watched as every motion of his body led to a different, more beautiful stance. After a minute passed, she reminded herself that her parents were waiting.

Willing herself away from the window, she stood before the main door. Hesitantly, she knocked.

The faint thumping sound cut off almost instantly, followed by some shuffling from inside. When the door opened, a sweaty Naruto stood behind in front of her. He had only a pair of sweat pants on, a towel wrapped around his neck, and a blinding smile on his face.

"Hey Hinata, what'd a coincidence! I was just thinking about you." he stated happily. His smile never faltering. "What'cha need?"

Hinata, blushing furiously at the half-naked man in front of her, polity turned her head – though her eyes never left him – and tried to make a coherent sentence. "I-I-I was w-wondering i-if..." she stuttered horribly.

With a quick glance downward, Naruto's face lit up with understanding. "Oh, I'm so sorry!" he apologized "Come on in," he invited while turning towards the stairway behind him, "I'll just be a second."

As he hurried up the stairs, Hinata slowly walked inside.

One thing she noticed was the decorations. On the walls hung several glass cases that displayed several antiques in each of them. The case closest to her held three kunai knives, each spaced several inches apart. Two of them looked to be in good condition, while the third had rust patches on it and a chip had been taken out of the tip.

Next to that case, was another kunai, only this one had three points on it. Above the weapon, in the same display, was a rusted, metal-plated headband, the blue cloth worn almost completely gray with time. In the bottom corner of the case was a picture of a man and woman. The man looked to be in his early twenties, with light-colored hair – the picture was too worn out to hold any color – and a joyful look on his face.

The man had his arm wrapped around the woman's neck. The woman was young, with long darkish hair. The man had Naruto's smile, while the woman had his eyes.

Set throughout the room, were many similar displays. One with an odd headband bearing what resembled small horns, and a picture of a old man with big hair under it. Another had an ancient battle helmet within it and a picture of a even older man inside. She couldn't help but think that she had seen that man somewhere before.

As she heard the sound of foot steps coming down the stairs, her eyes fell on a worn picture of a beautiful woman holding a baby. She had long dark hair and captivating eyes. As she looked at the picture, she found it hard to look away...

"Sorry about that," came Naruto's voice from behind her.

When she turned, there was Naruto, dressed in the same outfit as he was earlier.

"I guess it was kind of a awkward moment," he said while rubbing the back of his neck.

"No, i-it's my fault. I showed up out of nowhere," she apologized, her attention still on the picture of the woman. "Uh, where did you get all of this?" she asked while looking around. "And how did you get it a-all set up so soon?

"It's just everything I've collected over the years," he answered while following her gaze. "And some of the people that drove me from Suna helped me unpack while I went to school, but they're gone now."

"Oh," she sighed. She was reminded of the conversation with Kiba and Shino. How they had said that Naruto would answer questions without giving away anything. "Are these the people who used to own all of this?" she asked while examining a picture of a man with his headband covering one eye.

"Yeah, but theres no real way to prove it was actually theirs," replied Naruto as he walked over to the horned headband. "Except these ones, this one once belonged to Jiraiya. One of the Sannin."

"Who?" asked Hinata. The name sounded familiar, but she couldn't place where.

"He was one of the strongest shinobi this village ever produced." He gazed at it. His face was almost nostalgic.

"_He must have worked real hard to get that, if it makes him sad to look at it,"_ concluded Hinata.

"Oh," chirped Naruto as he walked over to the battle helmet. "This belonged the Third Hokage! You have to know who he is, right?" he asked with a mocking grin.

"I know that one," she replied with an equally mocking tone. Never realizing that both her nervous habit and stuttering had disappeared.

Euruki would have a heart attack if she ever got wind of Naruto owning anything once worn by one of the Hokage's... Then she remembered.

"Oh, I forgot to ask you," she said while mentally belittling herself "I came here to invite you to dinner."

"Dinner? Really?" asked Naruto, his attention peaked. "That'd be great! I bet you're a good cook!"

Even with her new found, unnoticed confidence; a heavy blush still formed on her face. "W-well, I helped a little bit."

"When is it?" he asked with a glance at a nearby clock.

As Hinata looked at the clock, she realized that she had been over at Naruto's house for half an hour already. "Oh," she gasped, "We're late!" If they waited any longer, the food would start to get cold.

In a rush, she grabbed his hand and started to pull him towards the door. All the while, Naruto was yelling, "Wait, do I need to get dressed up?"

His yelling went unheard as she dragged him to her home.

As she opened the front door, she could see her parents at the dinner table, a single extra plate set out for Naruto. Evidently, Euruki had filled Ritoka in on Naruto's solitary living conditions.

Her mother let out a small, almost romantic gasp as Hinata hurried inside, while her father looked as if he was mimicking a fish. His eyes were wide, and his mouth kept falling open only to close back almost instantly.

Hinata then realized that she had just spent thirty minutes alone with a boy, and then shown up at her house holding hands with him.

By the looks on her parents faces, Euruki approved, while Ritoka looked betrayed... This was going to be a awkward dinner.

* * *

**(AN: I'd like to thank my Beta's, loyal Reviewers, and all of my other readers (but not as much as my Beta's and Reviewers, 'cause you guy's didn't review!).**

**Oh yeah, I'm still open for suggestions for a new summary. The current one sucks, but I can't think of one. You guys should know enough about the story to make a good one if one of you guys wouldn't mind...**

**... Do I have to say it?)**


	9. Dinner

Curtains part over a stage as a drum roll plays.

I stick my head out from around the corner

"Hey guys, remember meAHH!" I scream as and ax embeds itself where me head was. "WHAT THE HELL?! Last time you guys through a pineapple!" I scream from beside the stage.

"THE PINAPPLES GOT ROTTEN THREE MONTHS AGO!" comes a yell from the crowd.

"Let me explain, please!" I plead.

A brave cricket dares to chirp

"Well, you see, at the beginning of July, I was in a pretty bad car crash. It messed my arms up pretty bad. After a while of healing and **(explicit language warning) **FUCKING physical therapy, my God I hate that shit, I was finally able to work again. Sadly, I was in the red when it came to money. So now, I'm working two jobs. I finished this chapter a while ago, but there were some problems with the whole 'Beta' thing. In no way am I blaming them, but after they edited this chapter, Yahoo apparently went down and I didn't get their copies after they sent them. So I waited... and waited... and waited...

So, here it is. The ninth chapter of Herin. While I waited, I worked on a bit of Reflections/Illusions, and because I'm Story-A.D.D, I'm working on a third story. (I know. I'm having trouble keeping up with two stories, but this one popped into my head, and I just had to do it.) It is MAJOR AU, but it does incorporate almost all characters. Its called _'A Tale of Dusk and Dawn'_. Keep an eye out for it, or put me on author alert... Favorite Author works even better, though :)

Chapter 9

Dinner

"So Naruto," started Euruki "what are your plans after school?"

The table they all sat at was the basic rectangle, wood kind. The two parents had taken the seats on the far side of the table, leaving Hinata and Naruto to sit side-by-side, much to her embarrassment.

Throughout the meal, Euruki had been asking Naruto question after question about his life, while Ritoka seemed to be sulking. He had still stayed in the conversation, but only added his little comments when they were needed.

"Well," Naruto answered "I'm kind of a history buff, so I'm thinking of anything from an Archaeologist to a Museum Curator. But everything's still up in the air, so I've got some time to pick."

A spark flashed inside Euruki's eyes as her lips formed a wide grin. Euruki has always loved history, but she had yet to find someone who shared her passion for the past.

"Oh, Naruto," she exclaimed enthusiastically as she bounced in her seat. "I work at a museum, and we try to find young workers for apprenticeships! You could work at the museum with me!"

"S-sure," said Naruto with a nervous laugh. Slightly taken off guard by her felicity. "how much does it pay?"

The tension seemed to lessen dramatically while Euruki filled Naruto in on the details. Ritoka even seemed to lighten up a bit. His shoulder seemed less squared off and relaxed than they were at the beginning of the meal. Though he wasn't hostile in the least, he did seem rather distant towards the blond guest.

"_That's weird,"_ thought Hinata _"I would have guessed that they would get along great, but it looks like mom's helping break the ice a little..." _Then an idea formed in her head. "Um, Naruto?" Hinata asked quietly.

"Hmm?" asked Naruto, caught off guard with his mouth full of chicken.

"Well," she started nervously, since both of her parents suddenly quit eating and were clearly trying to covertly eavesdrop. "I was wondering... If your going to be w-working at the museum, um, maybe you should try to get some of the things you have at your house a-appraised." she finished, her voice still as quiet as a mouse.

"Hmm?" hummed Euruki curiously "What things?"

"You see," Hinata started again, trying to read Naruto's face. He didn't seem to be mad, but more surprised. Like he was completely caught off guard by her suggestion. "Naruto has all kinds of old antiques in his house."

"Oh," said Euruki, intrigued. "your a collector?"

"Yeah," he answered nervously "I have some stuff from a couple hundred years back."

"Like what?"

"Um," mumbled Hinata "didn't you say that the helmet belonged to one of the Hokage's?" Inwardly, Hinata was worried. What if Naruto had just been boasting; trying to impress her with lies? Had she just embarrassed him for lying and herself for believing it?

"The Hokage!?" shouted Euruki. She looked as if she was barely restraining herself from breaking down his front door. "Where? How? Which one?" she asked excitedly.

"Well," said Naruto, some pride seeping into his voice. He seemed as if he had regained more of his composure with every second. "it was my grandfathers. I don't know where he got if from, though." His voice showed no sign of deceit or dodging, but something started picking at the back of her mind. She was missing something, but she just couldn't place it.

"But which one was it?" her tone switching to skeptical. People, grandparents especially, tended to exaggerate the truth.

"The Third's," he said as Hinata watched her moms eyes widen. "would you like to see it?" he asked.

"Yes!" she said, leaning over the table. "If its real, then the museum might pay you thousands, if not hundreds of thousands for it!"

"I'm not selling it." said suddenly, but still respectfully.

Hinata didn't miss her father arch an eyebrow when Naruto said that. "I'm sorry, Mrs. Hyuga," continued Naruto "but its all a I have left of my grandfather, so I'm keeping it."

"Good for you, Naruto." approved Ritoka with a smile. "It'd be a shame to throw something so personal away for money. Family is what really matters."

"I didn't mean to make you mad, Naruto." apologized Euruki homely. "I truly am sorry."

"Oh," reposed Naruto "I didn't mean it that way. I'm not mad at all, its just that people try to convince me to sell everything I've gathered every time they learn that I have it. A lot of times, they won't stop pestering me about it. So, its just always been easier to come right out and tell them 'no' directly."

At that, Euruki laughed lightly. "Its fine, Naruto, if you don't want to give it up, but I still want to see it."

"Thats fine, just come over whenever your ready to be jealous." he said with a challenging grin, clearly not intimidated by the age difference. "Oh, Hinata, what are your plans for after you get out of school?"

"Well, I'm not really sure." she answered quietly. "I've never been able to find anything that i-interests me."

"Do you have a job right now?" he asked hopefully.

She was about to answer with a 'no', but Euruki spoke up first. "Don't even bother, Naruto." she said in a annoyed voice. "I've been trying to get her to take the apprenticeship for years. She's too stubborn."

Something about being called stubborn opened Hinata's mind towards the idea of accepting, even if it was only out of proving her mother wrong. Or maybe it was because Naruto was going to do it, she didn't know. But the job was looking a little better now than it did in the past several years.

"Come on, Hinata." Naruto begged childishly, from his seat beside her. "I don't want to be the only one there. Will you please go with me?" he had put his hands together in a praying pose as he asked her.

"O-okay, N-Naruto." she staggered, "I-I g-guess..."

"Really!?" he asked as his eyes lit up. "It'll be great, you'll see!" Confidence seemed to radiate from him.

Both Euruki and Ritoka looked at each, conflicting looks on their faces. "Fine then," snapped her mom, somewhat sulkily, "I'll talk to my boss tomorrow. Come by after school, if you can."

"Great!" cheered Naruto "Hey Hinata, will you show me the way?"

"S-sure," she stuttered "Its not far from school, so w-we can just walk there."

"Oh," said a surprised Naruto as he glanced towards the clock. It read nine o'clock. "It's late, I'll get out of your guy's hair. Mrs. Hyuga, did you want to see that helmet?"

She let out a small laugh. "I wasn't going to let you leave until you offered. Trust me, were pretty good at stalling people."

"Mr. Hyuga, did you want to come, too?" Naruto asked politely.

"No thanks, Naruto. I get enough history lessons here as it is." he said gently, earning a glare from his wife.

"Well," concluded Naruto, while offering his hand out "until next time. And thanks for having me over."

Her father took Naruto's hand in a very manly handshake. "Your welcome here anytime."

After a few more pleasantries, the three of them were off to Naruto's house. The moment they were inside, Euruki honed in on the helmet.

"Oh my..." she gasped as she took in the details, her nose an inch from the thin glass "I can't be positive, but it looks as if it's from around that period's style. And the helmet is the only piece of the Thirds armor the museum was unable to find..." She looked starstruck.

"Like I said," interrupted Naruto "I'm not sure where my grandfather got this from, but he did have a lot of the Third's stuff. This was the only piece I was able to get my hands on, though."

"Um," started Hinata "didn't you say that you also had that headband..." she trailed off. "You know, the famous person's..."

"A headband?" asked Euruki, finally taking in the rest of the miniature exhibits around her.

"Yeah," said Naruto as he lead the two over to the second case. "even though I can't prove that the helmet is real, THIS is the real thing. I got it from an auction, but the damn thing cost me more money than I knew I had."

"Jaraiya!" shrieked Euruki, her mouth falling into the perfect 'O' shape as she stared at the picture. "Where the Hell did you get this?" she screamed, grabbing Naruto by the collar of his jacket. Inwardly, Hinata was surprised. She had acted exactly as Hinata had expected, but Euruki almost never cursed.

As she questioned him, he tried to answer, but she was making it increasingly hard for Naruto to talk "A-at a au-auction in r-rain country."

After squeezing out every last detail from the boy, she let him go. "I've got to be at work in the morning," Euruki said as she started towards the door "but I will be back." she warned "And when I am, your going to tell me everything about all of this." gesturing around her.

"S-sure thing," agreed Naruto, a nervous laugh edging his voice.

"G-good night, Naruto." said Hinata as she followed her mother. She wasn't brave enough to stay much longer.

"'Night, Hinata." called Naruto "I'll see you in the morning!"

As soon as they were back outside and the door was shut, Euruki leaned towards Hinata and whispered "Even if it kills me," a evil glint shinning in her eyes "you WILL marry that boy."

(Authors Note: Well, there it is. Please, tell me what you thought of it, where you'd like it to go, what you don't like about it (Phsh, like there is any), and any other comments you may have. If you want a response though, please sign in before you review. I can't respond to you if your anonymous.)


	10. Moonlight

Wow, three months without an update on this story. I'm a bit sorry to say it, but this chapter has been sitting in the backseat of my truck, inside a composition notebook, for the past TWO months. That just goes to show the true power of procrastination, huh?

I updated Dusk/Dawn and got a good ways through Reflections/Illusions, when I remembered this story. If your pissed off about me recent decision about Reflections, then I've got a bit of news that ought to de-piss you. I'll explain in my next update for it, but I'm not starting over. Yeah, your heard right.

Anyways, this is a fairly short chapter, especially when you take into consideration the amount of time since my last update. Be warned, this contains some mild fluff. I've gotta do a bit of research before I can get through the next few chapters, so, with my procrastination...

This story was written entire while listening to 'Artist in the Ambulance' by Thrice, 'Jersey' by Mayday Parade, and 'Feathers' by Coheed and Cambria. Those are what set my mind frame while writing, so I suggest listening to them while reading, to help set the pace.

Anyways, I don't own Naruto, the locations, characters, and whatnot. I do own this particular storyline, though, so don't steal this. If you wanna try to redo it, then ask permission.

* * *

Chapter 10

Moonlight

* * *

"_I can't do this." she chanted silently to herself as she was pulled relentlessly against her will. "I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this. I can't do this..."_

"_Yeff, u' gan." corrected Sakura, her voice muffled by the comb held in her mouth, while dragging her by her left arm. "Ang' fop fruggl'in awoun, o' u'll get urty."_

_She quickly glanced down, checking her clothes for dirt. They weren't her usual style, but then again, she wasn't the one that dress herself. The constant tugging of her hair got stronger until she laid her head back again._

"_Your clothes are fine," assured Ino, who tightly gripped her right arm. The blond didn't have anything in her mouth, though her neck was turned to an odd angle as she tried to hold the small makeup bag in the nook between her shoulder and jaw. "but hold still!"_

"_U'r da vun dat ash kuss ta ou vish foa 'u," Sakura said as she struggled against her arm. "Sho u'r duin it!"_

"_Please," she pleaded desperately "can we do it on another day? Please?" People around her watched in confusion as she begged. "I'm a mess today, and he's probably busy."_

"_Comb." demanded a female voice from behind her as a hand plucked the comb from Sakura's mouth._

"_The guy keeps to a morning schedule almost as faithfully as Gai and Lee." explained Sakura, after stretching her jaw around for a couple seconds. "He wakes up, goes to the bathroom, bathes, eats, then finds something to scream at. He should be eating right now, so we'll probably just be helping out with the screaming part." She finished it up with a meaningful wink._

_She felt herself blush as the hair tugging stopped, only to continue as the comb._

"_Don't get so nervous," said the voice from behind her again. "we'll be with you the whole time." After several more tugs, the unidentified voice happily declared "Done!"_

_The hand dove into the bag by Ino's neck and pulled out a small mirror as the two girls started forcing her up a flight of stairs. When they were finally at the top, the slender hand held the mirror in front of her, while the other hand pushed her forward. The reflection showed her hair wasn't fixed to catch attention, but more to frame her face._

_For a brief moment, the mirror shifted and showed the reflection of the one behind her. It was a woman in her late teens, slightly older than herself. Brown hair, fixed skillfully up in two twin buns and beautifully brown, mature eyes._

"_Tenten," coed Sakura enviously as she stared at her hair, "your a genius! He'll love it."_

"_If he even notices." grumbled Ino. "I swear, I'll spend an hour fixing my hair, but boys are always too busy looking lower to even realize."_

"_Oh," started the girl apparently named Tenten, "he'll notice. You weren't with us when she passed him all dressed up."_

"_He just stared at her while pouring boiling tea on his lap." laughed Sakura. "It took him about two seconds before he started raising Hell."_

"_Was he really st-staring?" she asked with a deeper blush._

"_You bet!" encouraged Tenten as they stopped outside a door._

_Sakura, ever so gently, pounded on the door. "I'd be surprised is he didn't approach you within the week." the pink haired girl whispered as the sound of quick shuffling came from the other side of the door._

"_Too bad," said Ino mischievously, "that that's not the case."_

_As soon as she finished, the door flew open to reveal Naruto in boxer shorts and a guppy sleeping cap on his head. "What!?" he screamed with eyes half closed._

"_THIS!" yelled three of the girls as they pushed her towards him._

_She fell into him as _her lips were pressed against something.

She sat up in a rush. Eyes wide open as she looked around at her dark, empty room.

Reaching up gently, she touched her bottom lip. They tingled slightly, as if the blood inside them had been pressed away.

Those weird dreams had always felt eerily real, but she could still feel a light pressure on her lips. Almost as if there really was someone...

Her bedroom door makes a annoying, high pitched squeak every time it opens, so nobody could have gone through it without waking her. The moonlight coming through the blinds illuminated the room, showing nobody else inside, but her senses picked up small, subtle details. Small irregularities that told her something was wrong.

The small tassel she had won in the third grade. It swayed softly from its place on the cork-board. The faint, unfamiliar scent that clashed with the smell of her cotton bedspread. A soft indention in her thick carpet.

Then, it was all gone. The tassel stopped its swaying, the scent vanished, and her carpet settled.

"_You just woke up."_ she reasonedto herself. _"Your still half-asleep."_

Hesitantly, she reached over and grabbed the small, stereo remote and pressed the 'power' button.

The radio's dim, blue light flooded the room. Usually, the light kept her awake, which is why she never used it at night.

"_The music will help me sleep."_ she tried to convince herself as she layed back down, turning to face the wall. It didn't feel comfortable to be facing the rest of the room. _"I'm not using it for the light."_

It was nearing four in the morning when she decided that, if she were to fall asleep, it would only make her more tired when she awoke. After slipping on her house-shoes, she tiptoed downstairs, quietly slid open the door, walked out into her backyard.

The moon was only half full, but that allowed for more stars to fill the vast, cloudless sky. Her backyard wasn't very large, but it was neatly kept. Her parents had bought her a swing set and slide when she was five. It wasn't one of the cheap, plastic sets; They had gotten the sturdy, steel set.

This wasn't the first night she had spent gently swinging, staring at the stars. It also wasn't the first night she had woken up from one of her 'weird' dreams, more than a little shaken.

There had been times, when, in the dreams, she had been stabbed, fallen from high cliffs, and generally, had been attacked in the most fantastical ways. People say that, when in dreams, you couldn't feel pain. But more times than once, she had been writhing in pain for hours before waking up in her bed.

The dreams, as far as she knew, had started when she was around seven. The first one she could remember, happened in the second grade, after Kiba had bluntly asked her if she was blind. Shino, who was sitting in the desk next to her, scolded the rough boy. From that point on, the two boys had been as close as brothers to both her and each other.

The dream involved her, Kiba, Shino, and a group of people she had never seen before. They were being instructed on how to cross a tightrope by an older man with a large scar on his face.

She had never told the two about the dreams until the sixth grade. Until then, admitting you were dreaming about boys was somewhat taboo. They told her about similar dreams. She had yet to tell any of her other friends about the odd fantasies, but her mother did know.

Close to her thirteenth birthday, was when she experienced her first painful dream. In the dream, she was in a actual fight with a man much bigger than she was. Somehow or another, she was able to avoid most of his punches, but one hit landed squarely in her stomach. Kiba, who was fending for himself during the confrontation, then attacked the man while she nearly passed out from pain.

Euruki ended up with a large bruise because of it. The woman had come to see why her daughter was screaming and found her thrashing around in her sleep. When Euruki tried to calm her down, she shot her hand forward and struck her throat. Now, anytime she has a particularly eventful dream, Euruki would sit up with her until the sun rose or she fell asleep.

She was brought out of her mind by a small pebble lightly tapping her forehead.

"Psst!" came a muffled voice. The sound came from above her.

There, on the roof of his house, was Naruto. He was waving in an exaggerated motion and grinning from ear to ear. He was wearing basic baggy pants and his orange and black jacket.

Though shocked, she did manage to wave back.

Grabbing the edge, he swung himself agilely down to the ground. The ground impact didn't seem to jostle him at all.

"Be careful!" she called out as quietly as she could manage.

The blond shot his usual smile as he made his way to her. "Hey," he greeted when he was finally within low-speaking distance. "What are you doing up so early?"

"I-I couldn't sleep." she whispered gently. "Why are you up?"

"Same." he said as he gracefully climbed up the slick end of the steel slide. "It's a new house and all, so it's kinda tough adjusting." Once he reached the top, he twisted around, hooked his feet in the handles and layed upside down on the slide.

Giving herself another gentle push, her swing started gently moving back and forth.

"You nervous about the whole 'museum thing' later on?" he asked bluntly.

"I guess..." she sighed. It wasn't really the reason she was up, but now that she thought about it, it would be wearing on her nerves for the rest of the day.

"Well, don't be." he demanded confidently "I'll be there with you, and nobody expects you to do perfectly on your first try. Hell, I'll probably end up smashing something priceless within the first hour."

A small laugh escaped her. "I'm just scared I'll let my mom down."

He shrugged slightly. "I doubt it'll matter to her how it turns out. She seemed really excited that you were even gonna try it, so I bet she's just happy that your giving it a chance."

"Do you really think so?" she asked as she gently started to rub her arms. It wasn't very cold out, but the constant chill was starting to get to her.

"Yup. I don't really know them that well, but I've gotta admit, I'm pretty good when it comes to reading people." He let a small hint of smugness seep into his voice. "Oh, you getting cold?" he asked.

"A little," she answered "but I'm fine." It was then that she realized it. In the entire time she had been outside, she had been wearing her pajama's. They weren't all that embarrassing, in themselves. They were just a soft, cotton blue shirt and pants set, but in front of him...

For what felt like the hundredth time within two days, she blushed a deep, scarlet red.

"Here," offered Naruto as he took off his jacket and handed it to her.

Did he realize her embarrassment, or was he just being a gentleman? Both were equally romantic and even more embarrassing.

"I have to say, though," he said with a mischievous smile, almost as if he read her mind "those pajama's are pretty cute."

"Naruto!" she snapped in shock, her blush deepening. As quickly as she could manage, she slipped the over-sided jacket on and pulled it closed.

He laughed to himself for a moment.

"That wasn't nice." she mumbled loud enough for him to hear.

"It's true, though." he amended without shame. "They match well with your skin."

"Can we stop talking about my clothes?" her whined; a bit exaggerated, but sincere, nonetheless. "I wasn't expecting to meet you out here!" She was then reminded that she came straight from bed to outside, so her hair was bound to be a mess. She decided that it would be best to discreetly work it down, instead of calling attention to it.

"Fine, fine, we'll drop it," he sighed. "but you owe me a free conversation drop. No matter the subject, we forget it, deal?" He held his hand out, far to serious to actually be serious.

"Deal." she agreed as she took his hand and shook it lightly.

They both fell into a comfortable silence after that. Each content in just staring into space.

The sun was starting to show signs of morning. A small portion of the sky was already orange, and half of the stars had vanished.

"Well," started Naruto, still upside down on the slide. "I'm gonna get a jump-start on my breakfast. Wanna join me?"

"No, but thanks anyways." she declined politely. "I have some stuff that I have to get done before school."

"Okay," he said as he climbed off the slide and casually jumped the fence. "Don't forget," he yelled back to her with a huge grin on his face "you promised me a ride to school!"

The perfect, most witty response she had ever thought of popped into her mind at that moment, but before she could yell it out to him, he called out "And those PJ's of yours were dead sexy!"

The witty response died in her mouth as he disappeared into his house, laughing loudly.

* * *

(AN: There you have it. You can now yell at me, praise me, curse me, or give me money. Preferably option two and four, but if you do perform option four, its solely due to you randomly wanting to give me money, not because I'm making money off of this story.

Believe it or not, this story may actually have some plot to it, besides the surface story, as hinted in this chapter. Anyways, before I can get to the next few chapters, I've gotta research basic museum life. If anyone by chance - a very small chance - has any experience in that field, you may speed up the next update by giving me some basic duties that have to be performed. I didn't think that part through before I threw it into the story, so it'll be a bit of a challenge. I usually don't write about something unless I understand it fairly well.

Anyways, I urge you to review and tell me how to improve.)


End file.
